Finnish-born mezzo soprano Tiina Penttinen pursued her singing studies at the Middle-Ostrobothnian conservatory and with Marjut Hannula at the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki. Taking special interest in the lied repertoire, she perfectioned her skills in classes with Udo Reineman, Roger Vignoles, Gustav Djupsjöbacka, Ilmo Ranta and Ellen Nyberg. Her performed repertoire now includes songs by Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Sibelius, Kuula, R.Strauss, G.Mahler, Wolf, Debussy and other composers.

A winner of the Lapeenranta Singing Competition in 2004 and several other prizes, that same year she made her opera debut as Annina in Rosenkavalier at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki. She further performed Emilia/Otello in Tampere, the merchant’s wife in Sallinnen’s Ratsumies at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer in Turku.

In concert, she has sung with various important Finnish Orchestras, in such works as Bach – Passions of St. John and St.Mathhew, Christmas-Oratorio, Magnifikat; Händel – Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Mozart - Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessor,  Haydn – Seven last words..., Berlioz - L’enfance du Christ, Listz - Missa Solemnis, Dvorak - Requiem and Stabat Mater, Stravinsky – Oedipus Rex, Sibelius – Kullervo, as well as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which she recently performed at the Helsinki Festival and in Stockholm.

An ensemble member of the Chemnitz Opera in Germany since 2006, Tiina Penttinen perfoms a quite versatile opera repertoire, including such roles as Carmen, Cherubino, Hänsel, Dorabella, Zweite Dame/Die Zauberflöte, and many others. In 2008, she made an outstanding debut as Rebecca, the leading female part in Otto Nicolai’s opera Il Templario, under the baton of Frank Beermann. Recent engagements include concerts in Finland and Sibelius' Kullervo together with the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico in Mexico City and Guanajuato (Festival Cervantino, Mexico, October 2008).  Her next role debut is planned in Chemnitz with Orlofski/Die Fledermaus in the 2008/09 season. Further productions there include Liebesgarten by Pfitzner,Gounod’s Faust, La Traviata and a new Peter Eötvös opera, Love and other demnons.